Join us for a rousing celebration of the life and works of one of Broadway's greatest legends — the one and only Stephen Sondheim. For the master composer and lyricist's 80th birthday, many of musical theater's brightest stars gathered in March of 2010 to perform more than two dozen sensational numbers from Sondheim's illustrious career, and several of these enduring songs are performed by the original Broadway cast members. David Hyde Pierce hosts this magical event with Stephen Sondheim's longtime collaborator Paul Gemignani conducting the New York Philharmonic. Originally broadcast as an episode of the PBS series "Great Performances" (season 38, episode 2).
In December 2011, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, Orchestra at Temple Square, and Bells on Temple Square were joined by Emmy-award winning actress Jane Seymour and famed baritone Nathan Gunn in a series of concerts that highlighted these stories of Christmases past. On this live recording from those concerts, the Choir continues some timeless musical traditions of its own.
The love story of young Countess Natasha Rostova and Count Pierre Bezukhov is interwoven with the Great Patriotic War of 1812 against Napoleon's invading army.
Transferring the setting of a brooding Hungarian play, Carousel, to a remote fishing village, shaping their vision around themes of brutality, poverty and disappointment, Rodgers and Hammerstein composed some of the most glorious music ever written for the stage.
Renée Fleming lights up the Met stage as Hanna Glawari, the fabulously wealthy widow of the title in Lehár’s beloved operetta, set in Paris and seen in a glittering production directed and choreographed by Broadway’s Susan Stroman. Nathan Gunn is Danilo, Hanna’s former flame, who is supposed to woo and marry her in order to keep her fortune in their home country of Pontevedro. Kelli O’Hara sings Valencienne, the flirtatious young wife of the Pontevedrian ambassador in Paris, Baron Zeta, played by Thomas Allen, and Alek Shrader is her suitor, Camille. Andrew Davis conducts the waltz-rich score, and the new English translation is by Jeremy Sams.
King Arthur founds the kingdom of Camelot and the Knights of the Round Table, who fight for justice and right, only to see his ideal crumble when his wife Guenevere falls in love with his favorite knight, Sir Lancelot.
The world’s most famous love story comes to operatic life with superstars Anna Netrebko and Roberto Alagna playing the star-crossed young couple. The abandon and ardor of their performances brought audiences to their feet in both the opera house and in movie theaters. And the unique, up-close-and-personal camerawork takes the viewer onstage to witness some of the production’s most memorable images and sultriest moments as never before.
Elijah Moshinsky’s witty production deftly walks the line between the lighthearted humor and the profound philosophical underpinnings of Strauss and Hofmannsthal’s opera, masterfully conducted here by Met Music Director James Levine. Deborah Voigt stars as Ariadne, the mythical heroine abandoned on the island of Naxos by her lover, and Richard Margison is Bacchus, the young god who eventually takes her away to a new life. The spectacular Natalie Dessay as Zerbinetta leads the troupe of comedians who unsuccessfully try to cheer Ariadne up. Susanne Mentzer is delightful as the young Composer of the opera-within-the-opera, and Wolfgang Brendel sings the Music Master.
Tamino, a handsome prince, and Papageno, a bird-catcher, are sent by the Queen of Night to rescue her daughter Pamina from captivity under the high priest Sarastro. Julie Taymor's abridged, English-language production of the classic Mozart opera.